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Whether you prepare support materials for in-house or client presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint or pull together the equivalent of PowerPoint slides from a variety of applications, you want a projector solution that fits your budget and accommodates your needs. Overhead projectors may lack the high-tech appeal of LCD-based digital projectors, but they offer advantages that may make their time-tested design a good fit for your office.

Simple Technology

An overhead projector relies on a bright lamp that sends an image through a lens-and-mirror assembly onto a screen. With the exception of the fan that cools the lamp, these devices contain no moving parts. If you want to project movies and sound, an overhead projector won't meet your needs, but it also doesn't require cables and software troubleshooting, or force you to reboot a misbehaving computer to complete a presentation. Compared to computer-connected LCD projectors, overhead projectors provide uncomplicated service based on reliable low-tech components, and don't require you to learn new technologies or skills.

Equipment Costs

Overhead projectors carry a price tag that can run from 10 percent to 50 percent of the cost of their LCD-based cousins. Both device types use specialized lamps, but the price differential continues when you evaluate their parts head to head. In some cases, you can buy a new overhead projector for the cost of an LCD projector lamp. If you present materials that don't require computer projection of A/V content, an overhead projector will save you money, both when you buy it and over its functional life.

Transparencies

Transparency film may cost more than regular office paper, but it's available at virtually any office-supply store, local or on the Web. If you prefer to purchase environmentally friendly materials, look for transparencies with recycled content. Regardless of whether you use a laser or inkjet printer, or direct your output to a networked color copier, you'll find a film product formulated for your device. You can prepare your transparencies well in advance of your presentation and reuse them each time you give the same talk. If parts of your message change, replace the outdated transparencies with new ones.

Annotations

Because overhead projectors display anything you print onto sheets of clear plastic material, their transparencies make it easy to annotate your presentation pages with comments you elicit from your audience or points of emphasis related to your data. With an inexpensive wax or grease pencil, you can write or draw on your transparencies during your talk and wipe the notes away with a tissue or paper towel. Overhead projectors can't display anything through opaque materials, so you can cover parts of a transparency with a piece of cardboard and reveal your talking points one at a time, focusing audience attention.

About the Author

Elizabeth Mott has been a writer since 1983. Mott has extensive experience writing advertising copy for everything from kitchen appliances and financial services to education and tourism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from Indiana State University.

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Mott, Elizabeth. "The Advantages of Overhead Projectors." Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-overhead-projectors-55328.html. Accessed 25 May 2019.

Mott, Elizabeth. (n.d.). The Advantages of Overhead Projectors. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-overhead-projectors-55328.html